Stolen iPhone5 Recovered with FindMyIphone

[convergent]

Just wow... thought this was a cool story, and so much doubting here. I'll try to address a few of the comments.

Originally Posted by cuti

I can not buy this story, it has too many holes in it "daughter called father 1am in the morning because of loosing Iphone, phone was off and find myiphone still worked, cop came to her house and dispatching some other cop to the site for a stolen IPHONE ? " , is it a paid story by Apple or what ?

Seriously... I've been a member here for quite a while. Why would I post a paid story? My daughter lives 2 hours from me, and is in grad school. She was out with friends when this happened. She called me, because I am the techie in the family and she needed help. That's what daughters do when they have a problem... they call Dad.

Originally Posted by Baggio

The police wouldn't follow FindMyiPhone when my wife's iPhone 4S was stolen last summer.

I believe this probably varies from place to place, and situation to situation. He said that they have only ever done this once before to recover a phone. I believe that the fact that it was 3am worked in our favor, because not that many people were out and about. If the guy had gone into a house or an apartment, I'm sure it wouldn't have worked out like this.

Originally Posted by cuti

Unless the thief pointed the gun and rob the Iphone, cops would had strong case to follow, but here his daughter lost her iphone, and cops had no reason to pursuit, what if that person at the gas station said "Well, I found the Iphone and on my way to return it to Police station" . Again, I can not not not to buy this story, it smells fishy and scam

The thief was standing in a gas station parking lot when they found him. Again, 3am... so pretty easy to spot. It was in what the cop described as a bad area of the city. The phone was stolen from the downtown high end part of the city, and he had gone several miles with it. I wasn't there, but I assume the guy acted suspicious then they approached him. I believe they just asked him if he had a phone and he pulled it out. My daughter described it to the cop at her house, and he confirmed it was hers. It still had a pink and purple case on it, which would be odd for a guy. She told them what picture was on the screen, and we had locked the phone remotely and gave them the passcode.

The guy said his buddy gave it to him and he didn't know it was stolen. He said they were riding in a cab together and got into an argument and he was kicked out of the cab. That matches the path of the tracking, as there was a long drive and then some odd moving around ending in the parking lot. He was alone, and on foot, and couldn't have gotten that far purely on foot. Also had an out of state driver's license.

I'm sure that cops can read people's body language and such.

Originally Posted by AFDoc

I typically find these stories hard to believe even the ones in the "mainstream" media.

-How would the police know who had the phone. Did they stop every person at the gas station and check them? (or house, or apartment or what ever the location is for a particular similar story) Police can't enter pockets or force someone to empty their pockets unless they are under arrest. They can only pat a person down if they simply want to ensure their safety during a face to face. (if they do then that's their get out of jail free card). I didn't read all of OP's posts but I didn't see anything in the first post that said he played "sound" you can do when you're on FMi.
-I have family members with different agencies around the country and I have asked if they would "track" someones phone and they simply laughed. Maybe this police force has nothing better to do but I know in Miami, Orlando, Denver, I was told they don't have time or resources for such things.
-Why suspect a person stole the phone? Just because someone has something doesn't mean they stole it. I have picked up items and later found their owner to return said item.
-Police would have no reason to suspect this person stole the phone. I guess the could arrest them for being in posession of the phone but any $2 lawyer would get a person off on that. "Officer, I found this on the bus and was going to try and find the owner in the morning.... No I never heard it ring as it was in my (pocket, backpack, briefcase) and I was wearing headphones." Unless there is a "He grabbed it out of my hand while kicking my butt" story to go along with the "stolen" phone, I'm not sure an arrest would go very far.

I'm not saying OP is lying I simply stating these are the questions I ask myself with EVERY one of these stories. Want to call me cynical? I have no problem with that.

Glad it worked out for OP and his daughter.

As I said, it was 3am and the guy was standing in a gas station parking lot. There aren't a lot of people standing around at 3am. If it had been noon, they would have probably not started asking everyone in the parking lot if they had a phone. My guess is the guy looked suspicious.

We almost hit the "wipe" button a few times, fearing he'd figure out it was being tracked, over the 30-40 minutes we were tracking before the police showed up. I didn't think they would do anything, and thought we risked not being able to wipe it. But after the cop showed up and was talking to us, he realized the movement had slowed ... we actually thought it stopped, but I think the guy was on foot.... he said they'd send someone over to see if they saw anything. Maybe it was a slow night... not sure. No one was more shocked at this outcome than me. I could not image how they would use the location to recover it for the reasons mentioned. They can't start knocking on doors at 3am for a phone.

Here is a screen print of the whole path with the final green down where the guy was finally located. The original location it was taken from was inside the horseshoe shaped orange road just northeast of the first point where is started tracking... while they were in the taxi.

Not sure what else to say... just thought it was a cool story to share.

By the way, they did not arrest the guy. Because he denied he stole it, and my daughter did not see who took it, there was no proof he was the thief. They could have charged him with position of stolen property, but he said that would be a hard one because he could claim he didn't know. So we were happy to recover the phone and left it at that. I'm sure they scared the crap out of the guy, particularly because they pulled up and found him at 3am so far from where he started.

[Spidder]

A big load of lucky coincidences in this story. I can understand why some people just can't buy it.

[SanjeevRana]

Its imaginable ... however, I still dont understand how Find My Iphone worked when phone was off ? Or did I miss that part of the story somewhat ??

[Spidder]

We thought it was off because it went straight to voicemail when she tried to call it. Not sure exactly what state it was in. I don't know if maybe she had "Do Not Disturb" turned on, would that send calls to voicemail?

For every 'find my iphone fail'... this story has an epic win

[convergent]

Originally Posted by SanjeevRana

Its imaginable ... however, I still dont understand how Find My Iphone worked when phone was off ? Or did I miss that part of the story somewhat ??

We have been trying to figure that out too. She tried to call it several times when it was taken and it went straight to voicemail. I'm not sure why else it would have done that other than it being off. I did ask her if she was using DND and she said she wasn't, so that wasn't it. But, also, when we first turned on the tracking it said that it wasn't available. Then after 5-10 minutes it appeared and began to track. So maybe he turned it back on after he got in the cab. It had to be on for the tracking to work from what I've read since it happened.

----------

Originally Posted by Spidder

A big load of lucky coincidences in this story. I can understand why some people just can't buy it.

True. Another thing that probably affected the cop helping... my daughter shares a place with three other female grad students. A young cop wanting to come to the rescue for the ladies! If it had been me that had my phone stolen, he might have just filed the report and left. That, and timing was everything.

[iphoneZ]

most police as policy will not pursue stolen phones. making vigilante justice your only option with findmyphone. you got quite lucky that the police were interested in helping you

[lelisa13p]

Ever heard the saying "Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction"? Sometimes it is.

Good on you, OP/Dad, and thanks for sharing.

[JeepLkw]

I'll be honest I laughed a bit when I saw it was Charlotte. Your right in describing South Blvd as being a sketch area. It's a lot worse than it used to be. Still not the worst place to be in Charlotte though.

If your daughter is living in the Uptown area. I hope she learned her lesson. I work in the city and you can never be too careful. Glad she got her phone back!

[robbyg]

After reading this post I just had to join the forum and reply.
This world is getting so cynical and crazy that it's hard to even read or listen anymore to what people have to say about anything.

A man tells a story about recovering his daughters phone and the detectives on the forum come out in force to try and pull the story apart, mainly to show off how smart they think they are. I know some of these posters are just young kids but let me give you a word of advice that my old man gave me 20 years ago after he overheard me mouthing off someone on the phone. He said "Don't say anything bad about a person unless you have the Balls to say it to their face".

I think people have become so anti social and just love the internet because they can run off their mouths and say things they would not dare say if the person was standing right in front of them. Like: "Your Lying"

And just to address those same people, I know the OP gave an explanation of events, Lord only knows why he bothered to be so nice because I would not have even bothered.

I thought I would add in some thoughts for the budding detectives on the forums. Did it occur to you that a person with a story like this might actually personally know some police officers and got a favor or two done?
Do you know when the Guy reached the Gas station? He might have switched off the phone when he got to the Gas station in which case findmyIphone will display the last known position.

Sorry for the Rant but I really enjoyed the OP's story and then the young detectives showed up trying to make a name for themselves and really got my feathers ruffled.

To the OP, Great Job, glad your daughter found her phone, and I agree with the other poster who said if she follows some simple rules she can prevent this from happening again.

[sdilley14]

That.Is.Awesome.

[meistervu]

Originally Posted by robbyg

I think people have become so anti social and just love the internet because they can run off their mouths and say things they would not dare say if the person was standing right in front of them. Like: "Your Lying"

And just to address those same people, I know the OP gave an explanation of events, Lord only knows why he bothered to be so nice because I would not have even bothered...

robbyg,

Well done!

[convergent]

Originally Posted by JeepLkw

I'll be honest I laughed a bit when I saw it was Charlotte. Your right in describing South Blvd as being a sketch area. It's a lot worse than it used to be. Still not the worst place to be in Charlotte though.

If your daughter is living in the Uptown area. I hope she learned her lesson. I work in the city and you can never be too careful. Glad she got her phone back!

Yep, she learned a lesson for sure. I told her that once the thief realized she was watching her stuff, and looking over every 30-60 seconds, if that... he just needs to wait for her to look, then look away, then snatch it and go. In fact, he could have snatched it and not really gone anywhere because she'd have not known who did it. Why he didn't grab the wallet also is kind of strange, but maybe he thought it would be more noticeable if that was gone too... who knows the mind of a thief.

She actually lives up north of the city from Uptown, but was in the Uptown area when it happened. So the police met halfway to get the phone back to her. Again, if it were me... probably would have had to drive down there to pick it up, if they even helped me get it... but a house full of female grad students and the young cop was a bit more motivated to help them out and be their hero.

I don't think she'll ever leave her phone on a table again, even while she is sitting there. I asked her why she didn't put it in her pocket, and she said her pants were too tight!

[cuti]

Originally Posted by robbyg

After reading this post I just had to join the forum and reply.
This world is getting so cynical and crazy that it's hard to even read or listen anymore to what people have to say about anything.

A man tells a story about recovering his daughters phone and the detectives on the forum come out in force to try and pull the story apart, mainly to show off how smart they think they are. I know some of these posters are just young kids but let me give you a word of advice that my old man gave me 20 years ago after he overheard me mouthing off someone on the phone. He said "Don't say anything bad about a person unless you have the Balls to say it to their face".

I think people have become so anti social and just love the internet because they can run off their mouths and say things they would not dare say if the person was standing right in front of them. Like: "Your Lying"

And just to address those same people, I know the OP gave an explanation of events, Lord only knows why he bothered to be so nice because I would not have even bothered.

I thought I would add in some thoughts for the budding detectives on the forums. Did it occur to you that a person with a story like this might actually personally know some police officers and got a favor or two done?
Do you know when the Guy reached the Gas station? He might have switched off the phone when he got to the Gas station in which case findmyIphone will display the last known position.

Sorry for the Rant but I really enjoyed the OP's story and then the young detectives showed up trying to make a name for themselves and really got my feathers ruffled.

To the OP, Great Job, glad your daughter found her phone, and I agree with the other poster who said if she follows some simple rules she can prevent this from happening again.

Only person who has narrow mind, low class will do Personal Attacked or teasing nick names in an open discussion.

Remember 1 thing that we are living in a fredom country, every1 has the right to raise their opinion freely, please respect that right my friend. Do not speculate, stick a bad labels , cursing those who do not share the same opinion like you, it is the character of the narrow-minded

[AFDoc]

Originally Posted by robbyg

After reading this post I just had to join the forum and reply.

You mad bro?
Some of us haven't had the luxury of living in your land of puppy dogs and candy. Some of us have seen the evil that men do. Now, maybe you have too and just chose to pretend bad things don't happen and people don't lie and if you can do that more power to you. BUT, I'm willing to bet, because of your happy go lucky attitude, you have not..... and you should be happy about that.

I live in the "real" world wear people lie, cheat, steal, kill, ect ect. When I hear a story like OP's I don't necessarily believe he's lying, I simply have questions like the one's I listed. I have questions about many stories I hear becauser I've learned to not take most things at face value. I do that because there is ALWAYS more to the story that isn't told. I have no problem with you calling me cynical, as a matter of fact I wear that badge proudly. I've learned to be so over quite a few years of seeing that "evil" of which I spoke. ONLY people I'm taking on face value are my family members and very few close friends, any one else is up to questioning.

[thomasfrdavis]

lost my iPhone 4 just before christmas in a diner just next to my house. went straight home and on to my iMac to put it in "Lost Mode". Saw the map and located where the phone was. It was still not far from my house, but kept on moving further away. Jumped to my bike with my brother on the backseat to track it with his iPhone.

Few minutes later, the iPhone could not be located. It was turned off, cos I remember I still had at least 60% of battery left.

Whats the point of locking the device using "LOST MODE" if it's still can be turned off? :'( I really wish that Apple will fix this in the future so when the device is in "Lost Mode", it wouldnt be able to be turned off.

[MBHockey]

Originally Posted by 1080p

iPhone Cardinal Rules

Over the years I have developed a set of cardinal rules regarding iPhones. They can be applied to any smartphone... but since myself and a lot of my friends are Apple fans... I call them my iPhone Cardinal Rules. It is very simple. Following them has caused me to never lose or misplace an iPhone.

Cardinal Rule #1.

If your iPhone isn't in your hand, it's in your pocket.

Cardinal Rule #2.

If your iPhone isn't in your pocket it's in your hand.

There are only 2 exceptions to Cardinal Rule #2.

#1 Exception:
If you are home, your iPhone can be left at your charge/sync area to charge or sync if that is consistently the same place you charge/sync. Don't constantly move your charger around your house.

#2 Exception:
If you have a docking station for your iPhone in your vehicle, you may dock it there while driving, but under no circumstances are you to leave your vehicle unless you execute Cardinal Rule #1 or #2.

I recite these rules to friends who leave their phones on the table while enjoying a meal at the restaurant. By doing this, you are just asking for a drink to spill on your phone or to just forget it when you pay your bill and leave.

Another one for guys is leaving it on the top of a urinal toilet while going to the bathroom. Why not just stick it in your pocket while you take a pee?

Groundbreaking stuff

[convergent]

Originally Posted by thomasfrdavis

lost my iPhone 4 just before christmas in a diner just next to my house. went straight home and on to my iMac to put it in "Lost Mode". Saw the map and located where the phone was. It was still not far from my house, but kept on moving further away. Jumped to my bike with my brother on the backseat to track it with his iPhone.

Few minutes later, the iPhone could not be located. It was turned off, cos I remember I still had at least 60% of battery left.

Whats the point of locking the device using "LOST MODE" if it's still can be turned off? :'( I really wish that Apple will fix this in the future so when the device is in "Lost Mode", it wouldnt be able to be turned off.

Actually, I think what would be even better than that would be for them to let someone appear to turn it off in "lost mode", but keep it on for tracking purposes unless a code was entered on the phone via settings or something. I agree that being able to turn it off when it knows that its in lost mode is poor.

Originally Posted by AFDoc

You mad bro?
Some of us haven't had the luxury of living in your land of puppy dogs and candy. Some of us have seen the evil that men do. ....

Originally Posted by cuti

Only person who has narrow mind, low class will do Personal Attacked or teasing nick names in an open discussion....

My thread here... so can we please keep the discussion about the story I posted and not start attacking each other... including me. Nothing wrong with questioning me about my story, but I do take offense of being accused of being a liar... I took the high road and ignored it, but things usually go sour in the thread quickly when people start making personal comments. If you don't believe my story, I'm quite sure I'll live.... so move on to another thread if you don't believe it and let the rest of us discuss something that I happened to think was pretty cool and wanted to share.

Now can we get back to discussing the story, FindMyIphone, how to prevent stolen phones, or anything else remotely related to the story and not attacking other forum members.

[darko m]

Wait, findmyiphone doesn't work after the thief turns the phone off? What a crock. And it's no wonder why my cab driver turned my phone off IMMEDIATELY after I left my 2 hour old iPhone 5 in his car. Obviously wasn't his first phone theft.

[takeshi74]

Originally Posted by convergent

We have been trying to figure that out too. She tried to call it several times when it was taken and it went straight to voicemail. I'm not sure why else it would have done that other than it being off.

Thief could have been sending calls to voicemail because he didn't know how to silence the ringer.

Originally Posted by cuti

Remember 1 thing that we are living in a fredom country, every1 has the right to raise their opinion freely, please respect that right my friend. Do not speculate, stick a bad labels , cursing those who do not share the same opinion like you, it is the character of the narrow-minded

Pot, kettle. The person you quoted was stating his opinion. You speculated that the OP's story was false -- that is, unless you were there as well. You accused the OP of lying and of being a shill for Apple.

Originally Posted by darko m

Wait, findmyiphone doesn't work after the thief turns the phone off? What a crock.

Of course it doesn't. Won't work in airplane mode either. My toaster doesn't toast when I unplug it either. What a crock.